ok - here's a strange one for all you gord-aholics. to what movie is gordon referring to in If You Could Read My Mind as "the old time movie,'bout a ghost from a wishin' well"? anybody know or is it just poetic license?
thanks.
phish

I understand Gord's lyrics in analogies, mostly. It's a reliable tool to convey meaning. It most probably comes from the influence of biblical revelation of which his songs are peppered. I wouldn't rack my brain on a "movie" but..."a ghost from a wishin' well"? Hmmm...Does that mean something like the old saying: "Be careful what you wish for because you may get it."

That's Gene Tierney as Mrs Muir and it's a wonderful movie but I don't remember any wishing well on the property. I think the only movie we could come up with that had both ghosts and a well (not necessarily the wishing variety) was "The Time of Their Lives", an Abbott and Costello movie featuring Lou Costello as a Colonial tinker named Horatio and - had to look this up- Marjorie Reynolds as Melody who were thought to be traitors during the Revolutionary War and killed, their bodies dumped in the well. Their souls are condemned to remain on the property until a descendant of Bud Abbott's character (Greenway) frees them by uncovering the truth. Each of them longs to be set free to reunite with their loves, Nora and Tom, who wait for them in heaven.

Somehow I don't think his inspiration was this 1946 movie, but who knows?

He spoke about it on the BillBennett radio show in August but I can't access it even tho I saved it...Apparently I need to buy a membership...
He said something about putting in some old Hollywood movie stuff when asked about the 'ghost in a wishing well" if I remember it correctly. He didn't specify any particular movie tho.
If anyone was able to save it they can check and possibly send it along to me!
lol

Maybe his references are taken from more than one film. There's more than likely many that could be mentioned but offhand,the 2 we've picked so far seem to be it.

Heck,for all we know he could even be referring to "Topper". A movie about the spirit of a man who lives in the house of a young couple.

Annie,I remember seeing,"The Time Of Their Lives",back in the '70s when channel 6 in San Diego would have an Abbott & Costello movie every Sunday. Their team efforts were always funny but for creativity,that movie was great.

__________________
"A knight of the road,going back to a place where he might get warm." - Borderstone

many thanks for all the feedback and thoughts. i hit the bennett interview and what a terrible interviewer bennett is. just as GL is about to answer anything, bennett interupts. so the truth here is still illusive. more thoughts are welcome. - phish

by the way it's "phish fear me" not "phish farmer" although it's a nice thought.

Bennett's a social and political conservative in the US. He is not known for, nor was he hired for, his skills as a commentator or interviewer. FWIW, he's a Fox News regular and former Secretary of Education under Ronald Reagan. He does sometimes put his mouth in gear before engaging brain, as in this example from last year:

Addressing a caller's suggestion that the "lost revenue from the people who have been aborted in the last 30 years" would be enough to preserve Social Security's solvency, radio host and former Reagan administration Secretary of Education Bill Bennett dismissed such "far-reaching, extensive extrapolations" by declaring that if "you wanted to reduce crime ... if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." Bennett conceded that aborting all African-American babies "would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do," then added again, "but the crime rate would go down."

There may be some sort of subliminal connection there for Gord. He would have been 8 when the movie came out and Abbott and Costello were very popular in the 40s and early 50s so it's likely he saw it at the local theater at the time.

Am I the only one but I don't take his lyrics quite that literally...(?)

I know that many if not most of his songs are drawn on personal experience but I don't look for quite such a literal meaning in his lyrics.

I've listened to IYCRMM since it first came out and never did I think that "a ghost from a wishing well" referred to the actual script of an "oldtime movie."

I give Gord a lot of latitude when it comes to such things.

__________________
~ ~ ~Picking up the pieces of my sweet shattered dreamI wonder how the old folks are tonightHer name was Ann and I'll be damned if I recall her face She left me not knowing what to do ~ ~ ~

Just adding my welcome. I'm glad you felt comfortable enough to jump in. I happen to feel the same way as you do about his lyrics. I hear them as metaphors, personal, but not literal. I think that's one of the reasons for its wide and long-lasting appeal. We each make them our own.

A note about jumping in : You did see the warning about the riptide that can sometimes appear at this site, didn't you ? There have been a few reports of near-drownings.

QUOTE]Originally posted by RMD: I happen to feel the same way as you do about his lyrics. I hear them as metaphors, personal, but not literal. I think that's one of the reasons for its wide and long-lasting appeal. We each make them our own.[/QUOTE]

How very true
Whereas other songwriters were obviously fuelled by hallucinogenic substances,Gord's whimsical poetry sometimes occurs from quite unexplainable thought processes.For example I am always quite overawed by the final verse of my current favo(u)rite Gordsong
"Will you get that restless yearning when you hear the wicked blast
Of a spectre from the past
Of a cold diesel rolling down a road that's built to last
Still I get that restless feeling when I hear a whistle blast
See an image from the past
Of an old schooner flying down a sky that's overcast"
So many inspiring images and thoughts are contained in those four wonderful lines
and provide much food for thought and imagination
reduced size picture from:-http://www.liberatorcrew.com/SB1919/TG.htm
which has the caption
A great shot of the wicked muzzle blast the short barreled Brownings are noted for.
a Diesel Road Roller
and:-
A schooner with an overcast sky
Best illustration of the phenomenon that I could find
OK,OK just how many schooners have YOU ever seen flying anywhere??
That is a cropped version of the larger original picture at:-http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoun...-albatross.jpg
OK got it, I think
a relevant quote from a page headedHallucinogenic Mushrooms
at:- http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/mush.html
"Psilocybin/Psilocin Mushrooms
Both psilocybin and psyilocin produce yawning, inability to concentrate, restless-ness, increased heart rate, and hallucinations (visual and auditory)."
John Fowles